(urth) Father Inire

[Gerry Quinn]

From: Lee Berman 


> > Gerry Quinn: The Cumaean does a little necromancy, but the artificial beautification 
> > was the work of the Hierodules’ pal Talos.

 

> Merryn twice makes claims that The Cumaean is superior to Dr. Talos, both as a 
> physician and a beautificator. 

And we have no reason to doubt it.  But of beautification or the like, she says: “it is not a task of the kind the Cumaean undertakes, save in great need”.

> Merryn herself appears to be a subject of The Cumaean's
> work as she appears to be the same age as she was when Severian saw her some 15 years
> previously. At that time, when Severian was a kid, Merryn's face was:
>  "at once suggestive of beauty and disease. The witch to whom it beloned seemed old to
> me and must actually have been about twenty or a little less..."She was not tall and 
> she carried herself in the bent-backed posture of extreme age. Her face was so lovely 
> and bloodless that it might have been a mask carved in ivory by some master sculptor".

It is certainly plausible that Merryn is the same witch Severian met when younger, in which case she is not his sister.  But she lacks the wires etc. Severian sees in Jolenta.  I don’t really see her as being artificially beautified by the Cumaean, but I think it is possible that her life was artificially extended.  However, the contrast between her and Jolenta is great.  You are suggesting that artificial beautification is evil [if so, then every woman is evil], but even if Merryn has been artificially beautified, one actually sees a contrast between good and evil uses of such technology.  We have no reason to believe the Cumaean would do what Talos did.


> Severian had it backwards in their first meeting, Merryn is really old but has been
> made to appear young. This jibes with The Cumaean's decribed role as a beautifier and
> her detailed knowledge of those arts including how Jolenta had been beautified.

She has a detailed knowledge of just about everything.


> FWIW, I think Merryn's age, name and lack of height disqualify her as a candidate for being 
> Severian's twin. I think Jolenta's height, name and the incest factor make her a better 
> candidate. Was she a witch before waitress?      

If she’s old, she can’t be Severian’s twin, certainly.  Maybe she isn’t really old and her witchy experiments/knowledge age her.  Then she would look similar to the Cumaean’s previous acolyte whom Severian met.

I don’t think there’s any sensible reason to think Jolenta is Severian’s sister.  We don’t know her name, and your “incest factor” is meaningless.  Severian sleeps with countless women of wildly differering backgrounbd and descriptions, so his sleeping with a woman cannot be an indicator of a genetic relationship (why would it be anyway?)  I can’t remember her height but it hardly means much.

- Gerry Quinn

 


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